Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value
Explores the success factors leading to one's company's rise to the number three ranking in the aggressively competitive toy industry. LeapFrog has made the strategic decision to exploit its educational model in two industry sectors: consumer toys and educational supplemental materials. Senior executives face a number of challenges in sustaining the company's growth. Critical to its success is LeapFrog's ability to leverage its core assets, while simultaneously closely managing its relationships with customers, distributors, suppliers, and partners across these two very different industry sectors.
Authors :: Lynda M. Applegate, Christopher Dede, Susan Saltrick
Topics :: Strategy & Execution
Tags :: Business models, Entrepreneurial management, Managing people, Social enterprise, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value" written by Lynda M. Applegate, Christopher Dede, Susan Saltrick includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Leapfrog Educational facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Business models, Entrepreneurial management, Managing people, Social enterprise and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Leapfrog Educational, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Leapfrog Educational operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Leapfrog Educational
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Leapfrog Educational
Strengths Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Leapfrog Educational in Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Leapfrog Educational digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Leapfrog Educational has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Leapfrog Educational is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Leapfrog Educational is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Leapfrog Educational is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Leapfrog Educational has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Organizational Resilience of Leapfrog Educational
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Leapfrog Educational does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Leapfrog Educational is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Leapfrog Educational has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Leapfrog Educational has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Analytics focus
– Leapfrog Educational is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Lynda M. Applegate, Christopher Dede, Susan Saltrick can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
High brand equity
– Leapfrog Educational has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Leapfrog Educational to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Leapfrog Educational has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Leapfrog Educational is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Leapfrog Educational has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Leapfrog Educational is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Leapfrog Educational has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Leapfrog Educational has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Leapfrog Educational has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Leapfrog Educational has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value, is just above the industry average. Leapfrog Educational needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Leapfrog Educational has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value, in the dynamic environment Leapfrog Educational has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Leapfrog Educational has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Leapfrog Educational is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Lynda M. Applegate, Christopher Dede, Susan Saltrick suggests that, Leapfrog Educational is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Opportunities Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value are -
Buying journey improvements
– Leapfrog Educational can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Leapfrog Educational to increase its market reach. Leapfrog Educational will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Leapfrog Educational can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Leapfrog Educational to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Leapfrog Educational to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Leapfrog Educational can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Leapfrog Educational can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Leapfrog Educational is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Leapfrog Educational can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Leapfrog Educational in the consumer business. Now Leapfrog Educational can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Leapfrog Educational can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Leapfrog Educational has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Leapfrog Educational to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Leapfrog Educational can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Leapfrog Educational can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Leapfrog Educational can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Threats Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Leapfrog Educational is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value, Leapfrog Educational may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Leapfrog Educational needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Leapfrog Educational can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Leapfrog Educational high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Leapfrog Educational has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Leapfrog Educational needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Leapfrog Educational in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Increasing wage structure of Leapfrog Educational
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Leapfrog Educational.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Leapfrog Educational with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Leapfrog Educational needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Leapfrog Educational demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Leapfrog Educational.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Leapfrog Educational can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Learning from LeapFrog: Creating Educational and Business Value is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Leapfrog Educational needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
